Little Things

ONE MORE THING:Emirates' inaugural flight from Dubai to Dublin on Monday brought at least a little cheer to our recession-blighted shores.

It also brought about a dozen Indian business and travel journalists to town for the hard sell on the Emerald Isle.

Organised by Tourism Ireland and the Dublin Airport Authority, it involved briefings with the likes of the IDA and Enterprise Ireland, and an overview of how the Irish film industry might collaborate with Bollywood.

Emirates flies to 10 Indian destinations via Dubai, opening up the potential for greater links between two countries.

* There were good trading figures published this week by British retailers Debenhams and Marks Spencer.

MS reported like-for-like food sales growth of 3 per cent in its third quarter, driven by a strong Christmas offering.

This was good news for Greencore, which sells sandwiches and other convenience foods to the company. The British retailer accounts for about 20 per cent of Greencore’s Ebitda.

“That said, the cautious outlook for the year ahead is likely to temper near-term growth for consumer food manufacturers,” NCB analyst Darren Greenfield noted.

* Trading at American fashion retailer Tommy Hilfiger’s Irish operation improved in its latest financial year, judging by latest abridged accounts filed here.

Accumulated losses at Hilfiger Stores Ireland Ltd reduced to €4.33 million in the 12 months to the end of January 2011 from €4.82 million in the previous period.

This indicates Hilfiger, which has a store on Grafton Street, was about €500,000 in the black during the year.

* Latest accounts for cinema operator Movies@Dundrum have just been filed. Among other things, they state its rent at Dundrum Towncentre is €1.2 million a year.

The 25-year lease was signed in 2005 with rent reviews due at five-year intervals, yet no review had been agreed by the time the financial statements were signed off.

The accounts didn’t publish a turnover figure for the cinema group – controlled by Andrew O’Gorman and Osborne Spurling – but its pre-tax profit for the year to the end of August 2011 declined by €100,000 to €695,693.